I am enquiring as to what exemption this Trust has for the use of flashing/alternating white warning lights on your emergency vehicles (not the flashing/alternating headlamps) but specifically the lights used in the front grille's and lightbar's which fall under the remit of the Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations.

4 Attachments

We are writing further to your e-mail dated 27 February 2017 requesting
information about white warning lights on emergency vehicles.

The question you raised along with its answer can be found below:

I am enquiring as to what exemption this Trust has for the use of
flashing/alternating white warning lights on your emergency vehicles (not
the flashing/alternating headlamps) but specifically the lights used in
the front grille's and light bar’s which fall under the remit of the Road
Vehicle Lighting Regulations.

EMAS tends to flash headlamps rather than fit white Light Emitting Diodes
(LED’s) that flash, and can confirm that we don’t fit front flashing white
LED’s on anything we are building or have built recently on our
operational fleet, but we will have older vehicles in our fleet with them
on. The Bi Xenon headlamps cannot be made to flash therefore we would
usually have the front fog lamps flash. In terms of the Construction and
Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations (RVLR) use information, RVLR is quite
prescriptive regarding flashing lamps, but emergency vehicles have many
exemptions. There is a specific list of permitted flashing lamps:

· Lamps to show a steady light

o 13. (1) Save as provided in Paragraph (2), no vehicle shall be fitted
with a lamp which automatically emits a flashing light.

o 13. (2) Paragraph (1) does not apply in respect of–

(a) a direction indicator;

(b) a headlamp fitted to an emergency vehicle or a vehicle used for
special forces purposes;

(c) a warning beacon or special warning lamp;

(d) a lamp or illuminated sign fitted to a vehicle used for police
purposes;

(e) a green warning lamp used as an anti-lock brake indicator;

(f) lamps forming part of a traffic sign;

(g) a front position lamp capable of emitting a flashing light (whether or
not it is also capable of emitting a steady light) which is fitted to–

(i) a pedal cycle; or

(ii) a trailer drawn by, or a sidecar attached to, a pedal cycle; and
which, if it is a lamp which is required to be fitted pursuant to
Regulation 18, is capable, when emitting a flashing light, of emitting
light to the front of the pedal cycle, trailer or sidecar (as the case may
be) of an intensity of not less than 4 candelas; or

(h) a rear position lamp capable of emitting a flashing light (whether or
not it is also capable of emitting a steady light) which is fitted to–

(i) a pedal cycle; or

(ii) a trailer drawn by, or a sidecar attached to, a pedal cycle; and
which, if it is a lamp which is required to be fitted pursuant to
Regulation 18, is capable, when emitting a flashing light, of emitting
light to the rear of the pedal cycle, trailer or sidecar (as the case may
be) of an intensity of not less than 4 candelas

On review and after consulting an industry legislative expert, the white
lamps does not seem to fit into any of the definitions above.

· A warning beacon is classed as a lamp that is capable of
emitting a flashing or rotating beam of light throughout 360° in the
horizontal plane.

· A special warning lamp is a lamp, fitted to the front or rear of
a vehicle, capable of emitting a blue flashing light and not any other
kind of light. They cannot be indicators or hazard warning lamps because
they would have to flash simultaneously with them.

· A headlamp is a lamp used to illuminate the road in front of a
vehicle and which is not a front fog lamp.

Yours Sincerely

Matthew Williams

Notes:

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